Thursday, January 31, 2008

"A Bristol Virginia man sparked a statewide political reaction after he said he heard the state Senate's majority leader insult rural gun owners while standing in a public elevator.

"He turns to his companion and says, `You can tell we're debating a gun bill today. Half the cast of "Deliverance" is in town,' " said John Pierce, a local gun-rights activist who was in Richmond to lobby the General Assembly against a bill to close the so-called gun-show loophole. "I was absolutely floored. ... I think what you're seeing is bigotry aimed at rural voters and the issues that they tend to support," Pierce said.

"Deliverance" is a 1972 film based on the novel by James Dickey in which Atlanta businessmen encountered a backwoods Appalachian culture on a canoe trip in the north Georgia mountains, where rape and murder ensue."

"International Cricket Council appeals commissioner Justice John Hansen found claims that Harbhajan called Australia's Andrew Symonds a "monkey" during the second Test could not be proven.

The result means India have withdrawn a pledge to abandon their tour of Australia if Harbhajan's initial guilty verdict for racial vilification wasn't overturned.

It also allows Harbhajan to escape the tar of being the first subcontinental cricketer banned from Test matches for racial abuse - a tag that caused extreme anger among India's political and cricketing hierarchy.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Elite Students Trying to Prevent Conservative Speaker being Heard

We read:

"Some students at Choate Rosemary Hall, the prestigious private school attended by John F. Kennedy, are protesting the choice of former presidential adviser Karl Rove as this year's commencement speaker. Some plan to walk out, while others are trying to bring satirist Stephen Colbert to campus for an alternate speech. The campus newspaper has urged the school to reject Rove....

Mary Verselli, Choate's director of strategic marketing and communications, said Rove was invited to talk about broader issues, not deliver a political speech. Headmaster Edward J. Shanahan said he looks for interesting and provocative commencement speakers and Rove has prompted more discussion than any speaker in the past 20 years...

Senior Peter Borgstrom is among the students looking forward to Rove's speech. "Maybe I don't agree with his political views and what he's done, but I'd still love to get the opportunity to see him," he said.

"Savage's record is out there for all to see. In 2004, Savage stated "I think (Muslims) need to be forcibly converted to Christianity ... It's the only thing that can probably turn them into human beings." In 2006, he called for a ban on Muslim immigration and recommended making "the construction of mosques illegal in America." Also that year, he advocated "kill(ing) 100 million" Muslims.

Muslim preachers say that sort of thing about the rest of us all the time but what is OK for them is not OK for Savage, apparently. Try to build a Christian church in Saudi Arabia and see how far you get! Tolerance and free speech go only one way as far as the Muslims and the Left are concerned.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Lunch Honoring MLK Runs into Flak

We read:

"An attempt by the Naval Academy to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. this week by serving fried chicken, greens and cornbread in the midshipmen's dining hall sparked a debate on the Annapolis campus about racial sensitivity.

On Tuesday, the academy served those items along with mashed potatoes, pie and lemonade as clips of King speeches were broadcast in King Hall, named after an academy graduate. The meal was served Tuesday because classes were not held during the holiday honoring the civil rights leader.

"The idea behind it is that it's a traditional Southern meal," said the spokesman, Cmdr. Ed Austin, adding, "It's a fairly common thing throughout the fleet to do special meals on special occasions."

But postings on GoMids.com, which includes a message board used by midshipmen and others affiliated with the academy, indicate some were offended by the attempt to honor King. "I thought we were well past these stereotypes!!" one contributor wrote.

I guess that we are supposed to pretend that MLK ate chateaubriand followed by profiteroles on a regular basis.

It seems however that it wasn't a big deal a few months back when "midshipmen were served beef fajitas, flour tortillas and Spanish rice for Hispanic Heritage Month". Are we seeing an implicit judgement about the inferiority of fried chicken here?

I never thought I would do this but I am inclined to defend Bill Clinton here -- even though most conservative commentators (and some Democrats) have jumped on him. After Obama's big S.C win, Bill said:

"Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in `84 and `88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here."

This was in response to a question about Obama saying it "took two people to beat him." Jackson had not been mentioned.

Boy, I can't understand why anyone would think the Clintons are running a race-baiting campaign to paint Obama as "the black candidate."

But Obama IS a black candidate. So what is wrong with comparing him to another black candidate? It seems a pretty relevant comparison to me.

Why must nobody mention what is perfectly obvious to everyone with eyes to see?

And now that a big majority of blacks appear to support Obama, it is obvious that most blacks see Obama as a black candidate -- so why is Clinton not supposed to see him as a black candidate? Does being white deprive you of your color vision?

Just to make it clear what I think of Clinton in general, see here. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Teen faces hate crime charge in noose incident

A pretty dumb and undoubtedly mocking act but is it a crime?

"An 18-year-old Colfax man accused of hanging nooses from the back of his truck and driving past "Jena Six" marchers in Alexandria in September has been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and a hate crime.

Jeremiah Munsen faces a maximum penalty of 11 years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted on the misdemeanor hate crime charge and one count of civil rights conspiracy violation, which is a felony, according to U.S. Attorney Donald Washington

Louisiana law-enforcement seems to have decided that the Leftist chant: "Hate speech is not free speech" has the force of law. It doesn't. I think a 1st Amendment defence would succeed here. But it will be plea-bargained long before it gets to a constitutional hearing, of course.

"An advertisement by a New Zealand chain of electrical appliance stores has been labelled socially irresponsible for encouraging people to get into debt. The Advertising Standards Authority said that a flyer distributed by the Bond and Bond company - reading: "NZ has the 3rd highest level of personal debt, help us get to No. 1" - breached its code of ethics, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The Invercargill Budget Advisory Service lodged a complaint, saying the wording was socially irresponsible because the agency "constantly sees people with huge debts they have no way of paying."

Bond and Bond said the ad was "cheeky with an irreverent tone, and we do not believe the wording was offensive."

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Must not even CONDEMN naughty words

Nasty bureaucrats looking for an excuse to show their power:

"Brandeis University declared a professor guilty of racial harassment and placed a monitor in his classes after he criticized the use of the word "wetbacks" in his Latin American Politics course. Professor Donald Hindley, a nearly 50-year veteran of teaching, has neither been granted a formal hearing by Brandeis nor provided with the substance of the accusations against him in writing. Hindley has turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.

"Brandeis's actions demonstrate a fundamental disregard for academic freedom and for fair, rational fact-finding procedures," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "Professor Hindley is a respected scholar who until now has not faced a single student complaint in nearly five decades of teaching. Punishing him for actually criticizing the use of what is often considered an ethnic slur shows a mindless application of `sensitivity at all costs' at the expense of freedom of expression."

In his Fall 2007 course on Latin American politics, Hindley allegedly used terms that at least one student found objectionable. Despite his repeated demands to Brandeis administrators to disclose in writing precisely what offended some students in his class, they have refused to tell him.

"According to some news and sports websites, ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson graphically attacked Jesus Christ at a recent roast of her colleagues; she was reportedly intoxicated. At the January 11 event, Jacobson roared from the podium, "*** Notre Dame," "F*** Touchdown Jesus," and finally "F*** Jesus."

When pressed on this issue, ESPN's response is to e-mail a statement by Jacobson, which includes the following: "My remarks about Notre Dame were foolish and insensitive. I respect all religions and did not mean anything derogatory by my poorly chosen words."

This response fails on several counts. First, there is no evidence that ESPN is taking this matter seriously. Are we to believe that her hate speech is of no consequence? Her comments were not made at a private function, rather they were made at a public event where she represented ESPN...

Then there is the matter of Jacobson's so-called apology. By far the most offensive thing she said, "F*** Jesus," isn't even addressed!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Only Whites can be Racist

Mentioning that Farrakhan is a repulsive racist makes YOU a racist!

"When veteran Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen pointed out last week that Obama's long-time "spiritual mentor" Rev. Wright had last November 2 awarded his "Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Trumpeter Award for Lifetime Achievement " to Nation of Islam supremo "The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan," he was widely denounced as a racist."he" being not Obama or Wright or Farrakhan, but Cohen -- for being the first journalist to mention this gala bash at the Chicago Hyatt Regency, a mere ten weeks after it happened!

"A new, cutting-edge, political TV show will challenge Islam with biting humor tomorrow night, placing the face of the prophet Muhammad onto a cookie and then having it eaten on camera.

"We're going to take a stand and say Muhammad's face is delicious," said Molotov Mitchell, the 28-year-old incendiary creator and host of "Flamethrower," a program described as a low-budget, gritty cross between the "The Daily Show," "The Colbert Report," and "The View" if Ann Coulter were the producer. "This is religious and culinary history in the making."

The theme of this week's episode is "All Things Islam," as panelists take on the faith of Muslims in a no-holds-barred fashion. "Islam is not even a religion," Mitchell told WND from a location somewhere in Eastern North Carolina. "It's an ideology of 'might makes right' disguised as a religion. We're going to show that Allah was with us when we baked this cookie and ate it. Deal with it!"

Mitchell and his fellow panelists - all of whom are Christians in their 20s and whom he calls the next generation of conservatism - are trying to make the point that America is still a free country, and there's no need to cower in fear from Islamo-fascism.... "What were doing is exercising our freedom of speech and freedom of the press to the fullest in order to challenge a tyrannical, oppressive system that has doomed the cultures and countries of the Middle East for centuries," Mitchell told WND. "Now it's trying to invade our borders, and somebody has to speak up about it."

Friday, January 25, 2008

Another Naughty Noose

Editor sacked for using a picture of one to illustrate a point:

"It's a shame that now-fired Golfweek magazine editor Dave Seanor didn't talk with an expert on racist imagery like David Pilgrim of Rockford before he approved the now infamous cover featuring a noose.

The cover was part of a response by the magazine to a remark made on the air by Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman on Jan. 4 during the Sony Open. She suggested that one way for young golfers to stop Tiger Woods is to "lynch him in back alley."

After seeing the clip on film, it was clear Tilghman was attempting to be humorous. She was later suspended by the Golf Channel, and will return later this month.

Then along comes this cover with a headline: "Caught in a Noose: Tilghman slips up, and Golf Channel can't wriggle free." It made Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, very upset. He called the imagery outrageous and irresponsible, and said "it was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion."

Seanor said the cover wasn't an attempt to be racially provocative, but to demonstrate the story that had provoked much comment.

"Members of the Yale Women's Center board threatened to initiate legal action Sunday after discovering a photograph posted on Facebook.com depicting 12 Yale students affiliated with the Zeta Psi fraternity posing in front of the Center with a sign reading "We Love Yale Sluts."

The picture made its rounds through e-mail inboxes around Yale's campus Sunday night, enraging some members of the University community offended by what they perceived to be its misogynistic overtones. The men photographed in front of the Women's Center are Zeta Psi "pledges" - students attempting to join the fraternity. The photo was removed from Facebook.com later Sunday night.

The Women's Center board is contemplating legal action against the fraternity, the University and the individuals in the photograph on grounds of sexual harassment and defamation, said Chase Olivarius-McAllister '09, the Center's former political-action coordinator.

It seems to me that this probably drunken behavior was not much different to the way black males routinely refer to women as "Hos" -- and that seems to get a pass. And male students taking a picture, not of any women, but of themselves, is "harassing" women?

Thursday, January 24, 2008

But it took a court of appeals to get free speech rights even considered:

"A Saskatchewan Court of Appeals has ruled that the suspension of a pro-life protester's nursing license by the Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses (SALPN) was unconstitutional.

In 2002, Bill Whatcott, a licensed practical nurse, participated in a protest outside the Regina Planned Parenthood offices. The Association judged Whatcott's protest to have constituted "professional misconduct" and suspended his nursing license and fined him $15,000.

Whatcott admitted in a court hearing to having carried signs with pictures of foetuses and captions saying "Planned Parenthood Aborts Babies" and "Planned Parenthood refers for abortions," "God's gift of life" and "choice is abortion". Whatcott lost his initial case at the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench and his appeal was later dismissed.

Court documents in the appeal note that the SALPN disciplinary committee did not address constitutional issues of Whatcott's freedom of expression. Whatcott's appeal was upheld by the court that said the case raised "constitutional law issues pertaining to freedom of expression".

The ruling said, "The Discipline Committee did not engage in any of the balancing necessary to weigh Mr. Whatcott's right to work, the high standards to which nurses must aspire and free speech...

The justices wrote that SALPN had failed to demonstrate that the restriction on Whatcott's freedom of expression was reasonable "and the decision is thus unconstitutional."

Slovenia is a small and scenic Alpine nation just South of Austria in the North of what was once Yugoslavia. Many of its journalists would have learnt their trade while Communism ruled there. A whine about the place from the NYT below:

"As a young journalist in the late 1980s, Janez Jansa, now prime minister, played a critical role in spurring Slovenia's pro-democracy movement after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for opposing the Communist government and writing articles attacking the former Yugoslav Army.

In an extraordinary inversion of the past, his opponents now accuse him of trying to censor the news media whose freedom he fought to uphold. A recent report by Freedom House, a pro-democracy watchdog group based in New York, said that the Slovene news media "faced indirect political and economic pressure from the government and business interests" and that government officials sometimes treated journalists as if they were "the political opposition." [Probably because they are!] ....

Mr. Jansa, asked last week whether he was stifling the media, was emphatic. If the main measure of press freedom "is the possibility to criticize the government, then we have 200 percent freedom," he said. The government cited several independent studies, including a 2007 report by Reporters Without Borders that ranked Slovenia above France, Spain, Italy, Australia and the United States in press freedom....

Delo journalists say critical reporting of government policies has become increasingly difficult. As evidence, they point to Mr. Jancic's decision to recall the Delo correspondent in Vienna to Ljubljana in April after he published stories critical of government policy toward the Slovene minority in Austria. The correspondent in Zagreb, Croatia, who had criticized the government for a police buildup at Slovenia's disputed border with Croatia, was also recalled.

Mr. Jancic, who has since been replaced as editor, said during an interview that the correspondents had been recalled because they were injecting their opinions into stories. He said that as editor, he never came under direct government pressure.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Spot the Difference

We read:

"Last week the Austrian politician Susanne Winter caused an Alpine storm with her controversial statement that the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was "a child molester" who had married a six-year-old girl and "a warlord" who had written the Koran during "epileptic fits." The politician, a member of the Austrian Freedom Party FPO, an anti-immigration party which is in opposition, added that Islam is "a totalitarian system of domination that should be cast back to its birthplace on the other side of the Mediterranean."

Muslim organizations in Austria called Ms. Winter's words "sickening and evil." The Austrian Christian Democrats, Socialists, Greens and even the BZO, the party of former FPO leader Joerg Haider, strongly criticized Winter's remarks. Erhard Busek, the leader of the Christian Democrats, called upon Cardinal Schoenborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, to "speak out clearly" against Ms. Winter, a Catholic.

Mr. Busek said Winter's remarks were "a disaster [.] the most primitive populism, which does not fit in the framework of democracy. [.] I expect a real outcry and criticism from religious communities, of believing people with convictions." There is, however, a `real outcry' in other quarters. Muslim extremists have threatened to kill Susanne Winter. The Austrian authorities are taking the threats seriously and have placed the politician under police protection.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the words of another intolerant politician are hardly causing a ripple in the polders. Bouchra Ismaili, a Rotterdam councillor of Moroccan origin, sent a controversial email to Jos Parbleu, a Dutch citizen who had written her and many other politicians a polite email to communicate his concerns about the rise of the Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir in Rotterdam. Ms. Ismaili told Mr. Parbleu to either "drop dead" or "convert to Islam." She added that Parbleu was "a dirty fool" who ought to realize that Muslims would soon be the majority in the Netherlands and that: "You are the foreigner here."

Ms. Ismaili's words have not provoked threats to kill her, there has been no public national or international outcry, the United Nations are not worried about rising `Christophobia' in Europe, and the Christian Democrats have not called upon the Dutch imams to "speak out clearly" against "the most primitive language which does not fit in the framework of democracy."

I have to assume that the juxtaposition of these two stories in Saturday's Post was accidental, but it was rich with irony. We are all supposed to be offended by cartoons of Muhammad, yet we are expected to not only tolerate but handsomely reward artwork featuring an "aroused" Jesus -- modern art, after all, is supposed to be "challenging," right? I wonder, did the exhibition feature an "aroused" Muhammad? No, I didn't think so.

"The city of Hamilton Ontario has decided to pull a series of pro-life advertisements from its bus-shelters, saying that they were "offensive" and too "controversial."

The ads, which are part of a nation-wide pro-life campaign coordinated by Life Canada, depict a pregnant woman. At the top of the ad are the words, "Nine months: the length of time abortion is allowed in Canada. No medical reason needed." At the bottom is the question, "Abortion, have we gone too far?"

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Antisemitic speech from Canadian Indians is OK

Or so a Saskatchewan appeals court has just held with some rather stretched reasoning. Still, it is stretched in the right direction:

"The Supreme Court, in a 1990 ruling involving Jim Keegstra, an Alberta high school teacher disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda to his students, stated that though Canada's hate speech law infringed on the Charter right of free expression, it was a reasonable limit that could be justified in a free, democratic society. The high court, however, made it clear only the most extreme cases of speech fomenting hatred could be considered criminally liable. There must be active support or instigation of hatred; and perpetrators must intend, and foresee that their actions would stimulate, hatred as a certainty. Mr. Keegstra was convicted.

In Mr. Ahenakew's case, the native leader gave a 45-minute, profanity-laced speech to an assembly of native leaders in Saskatoon in December 2002, in which he blamed Jews for the Second World War. Afterwards, when a reporter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix approached him, Mr. Ahenakew repeated his comments, among other things calling Jews a "disease."

Mr. Ahenakew was convicted of wilfully promoting hatred by a Saskatchewan provincial court judge and fined $1,000. He appealed and won a new trial, but that decision was itself appealed by the Crown, resulting in this week's ruling.

Students who were blocked by Italy's modern-day Fascist Left from hearing the Pope go to where they can hear him:

"It was announced yesterday that a scheduled visit by Pope Benedict to La Sapienza University had been cancelled due to the rowdy protests of a contingent of students who argued that the Pontiff was "anti-science." Previously the students had announced their intention to disrupt the Pope's scheduled speech by blasting rock music over loudspeakers.

The Vatican cancelled the Pope's visit to the university, which was started by a pope in 1303, following a break-in and sit-in by 50 students in the university rector's office. Vatican spokesmen said it was "considered opportune to postpone the event," which had been planned "by invitation of the major rector."

Students of La Sapienza opposed to the protests, however, responded by flocking to Benedict's Wednesday general audience at Paul VI Hall on January 16 as a show of solidarity to the Pontiff. They displayed banners that read "If Benedict doesn't come to La Sapienza, La Sapienza goes to Benedict," and "Students with the Pope."

A professor from La Sapienza has also responded to to the protests, and has written an article accusing the protestors of being bigoted intellectuals who have a personal dislike for Pope Benedict XVI..... "[The students] have never expressed a word of criticism against Islamic fundamentalism or against those denying the Shoah [Holocaust]. This is just a part of the secularist culture that has no argument, so it demonizes, it does not argue as a real secular culture, but creates monsters."

Monday, January 21, 2008

Australian Play Portrays Mohammed as a Homosexual

You don't believe it? You are right. That would be MOST "incorrect" -- maybe even "racist". In Canada, it would probably get you prosecuted for "hate speech". But mocking Christian beliefs is OK of course:

"A play that depicts Jesus as a gay man who is seduced by Judas and conducts a gay marriage for two apostles has been condemned by religious leaders as it prepares to open in Sydney. The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, questioned the integrity of Corpus Christi and expressed his outrage at the "unhistorical and untrue" depiction of the son of God and some of his disciples as homosexual. "It is deliberately, not innocently, offensive and they're obviously having a laugh about it," he said. "It's historical nonsense and I wouldn't want to go and see it. Life's too short."

Not if you are a leading Leftist newspaper, anyway. Note this comment from the NYT about the economic boom in Ireland:

"The change began when Ireland entered the European Union in 1973. In subsequent years, the government rewrote its tax policies to attract foreign investment by American corporations, made all education free through the university level and changed tax rates and used direct equity investment to encourage Irish people to set up their own businesses.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

British government renames Islamic terrorism as 'anti-Islamic activity'

Yes. You read that right:

"Ministers have adopted a new language for declarations on Islamic terrorism. In future, fanatics will be referred to as pursuing "anti-Islamic activity". Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that extremists were behaving contrary to their faith, rather than acting in the name of Islam.

Security officials believe that directly linking terrorism to Islam is inflammatory, and risks alienating mainstream Muslim opinion. In her first major speech on radicalisation, Miss Smith repeatedly used the phrase "anti-Islamic".

She should read the Koran. Take the comment in Sura 4:89 about Non-Muslims:

"They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them"

Even Hitler was not that blunt -- though he was just as genocidal in practice, of course.

The above passage is in my copy of the Koran and my copy was printed in India under the auspices of the Nizam of Hyderabad so I am pretty sure I have not been misled by a neocon plot.

William Farr, a Greeley, Colo., businessman, told a dud of a joke at a banquet Wednesday:

"Farr was pretending to read telegrams congratulating this year's award recipient, University of Colorado President Hank Brown, when he pulled out a piece of paper and said, "I have a telegram from the White House." Then he added, "They're going to have to change the name of that building if Obama's elected."

As Taranto comments: "In response, Gov. Bill Ritter said he "gasped." Denver's Mayor John Hickenlooper described the joke as "inappropriate." Albert Yates, a former university president, called it "unfortunate and most inappropriate." Sen. Ken Salazar said it was "uncalled for and atrocious." Farr dutifully apologized.

There is no doubt that Farr should keep his day job; his quip wasn't the least bit funny. But can someone explain to us what exactly is objectionable about the joke? It is merely a play on words that doesn't rely on any disparaging stereotype about black people. We suppose it implies an acknowledgment that all American presidents have been white, but this is a simple matter of historical fact. It's hard to see how anyone other than professional offense takers could have taken offense."

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Scientology church put stop to leaked Tom Cruise web video

We read:

"Scientologists have forced internet giant Google to remove a leaked web video that featured Hollywood star Tom Cruise praising the niche religion. The Scientology video was removed from Google's YouTube video site today. "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International," said a message on the site.

A Google Australia spokesman denied the company giant had "buckled under pressure" from the Church of Scientology, but confirmed Google had "complied with our legal obligation to remove material".

There is a bit of a surge lately in using copyright laws to suppress speech. If any of these cases get to court, however, I think they will die. Copyright laws do permit use of excerpts and that is all that happened above as far as I can work out.

I have noted before threats by the Church of Scientology to sue anybody who distributes an unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise -- threats that have succeeeded in getting the book pulled from some bookstores. It seems however that the book really contains very little of substance. There is a run-down of what is in it here. The only bit in it that I thought vaguely interesting was the following:

"Morton says Tom "progressed to what Scientologists call 'the Wall of Fire,' or Operating Thetan III, where the secrets of the universe according to Hubbard [are] revealed." Allegedly, "Tom found the knowledge he had just received disturbing and alarming, as he struggled to reconcile the creationist myth with the more practical teachings contained in the lower levels of Scientology...Tom [complained] that he had studied all these years and the whole faith was about space aliens."'

Some Cruise scientology craziness that apparently is not in the book can be found here

Friday, January 18, 2008

Users may have noted that I have recently added a pro-Israel logo to the sidebar here.

I make no apology for being an unreserved supporter of Israel. I regard Israel as one of the great adventures of the human spirit and the Bible as a Jewish book.

I might however add that my ancestry is all traceable to the British Isles and my religious background is Presbyterian. I am of course an atheist but in Ireland I would be asked: "But are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?" Perhaps because of my part-Irish origins, I regard that as a reasonable question. But however you look at it I am not Jewish.

I cannot however understand why anybody who regards the Bible as holy does not also regard Israel as deserving of every support. Fortunately, American Bible-believing Christians ARE strong supporters of Israel. There is some logic left in the world.

"Susanne Winter, a right-wing politician with the FPO party running for a city council seat in the city of Graz, blasted Muslims on Sunday, saying that "in today's system" the Prophet Muhammad would be considered a "child molester," apparently referring to his marriage to a six-year-old child. She also said that it is time for Islam to be "thrown back where it came from, behind the Mediterranean." Not yet finished, she also claimed that Muhammad wrote the Koran in "epileptic fits."

In an interview with the daily Osterreich published on Monday, Winter continued the onslaught saying that child abuse is "widespread" among Muslim men and that Graz is facing a "tsunami of Muslim immigration." In 20 or 30 years, she warned, half of Austria's population would be Muslim.

Her comments have resulted in a storm of protest in Austria, with politicians and commentators of all stripes taking Winter and her party to task. Austrian prosecutors are also looking into the possibility of filing charges against the 50-year-old politician for incitement.

"Opponents of Germany's new smoking ban have appalled Jewish leaders by selling more than 1,000 'smokers' T-shirts' that display a yellow Star of David and suggest that discrimination against nicotine addicts is like Nazi anti-Semitism during the Third Reich.

The controversial T-shirts went on sale on an internet site in the run-up to a smoking ban which came in to force in 10 of Germany's 16 federal states on New Year's Day. Its promoters insisted that Germany needed to be woken up to what it described as 'disgraceful discrimination against smokers' in bars and restaurants and claimed that its shirts were 'the most aggressive smokers' resistance shirt available.'"

Thursday, January 17, 2008

It appears that Italian universities are just as intolerant as American ones:

"Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday abruptly called off plans to speak at Rome's prestigious La Sapienza university, after students and professors rallied to proclaim him pontiff non grata.

More than 60 professors signed a letter to the public school's rector saying the pope's appearance, which had been scheduled for the opening of the academic year Thursday, was an affront to people of science and to the "secular" nature of the institution.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Georgia Student Files Federal Lawsuit Against Valdosta State University After Expulsion for Peaceful Protest

We read:

"Expelled Valdosta State University (VSU) student T. Hayden Barnes has filed a lawsuit against the university, VSU President Ronald Zaccari, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and other VSU administrators after being punished for publicly protesting the school's decision to construct two new parking garages on campus. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in cooperation with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and eminent First Amendment attorney and FIRE Legal Network member Robert Corn-Revere.

"VSU's concerted effort to silence and punish Hayden Barnes is an unconscionable attempt to violate his First Amendment rights-and VSU, as a public institution, is legally required to protect these rights," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. "Now VSU must answer for its actions in court."

Am I losing my mojo? I put up a post yesterday defending Hillary and now this post is in defence of a Greenie! Though I have always said that even Fascists have rights! And from a libertarian point of view both Hillary and the Greenies have a lot in common with Benito Mussolini. Did you know that Musso was a keen conservationist in various ways? See here.

"Dennis Kucinich has found a judge willing to enjoin a television network from broadcasting a presidential debate unless it invites Kucinich to participate in the debate. Ordinarily, a lefty like Kucinich would regard a court order stopping a broadcast as the foulest violation of the First Amendment, but in this case he sought the injunction. Why? Because Kucinich disagreed with NBC's editorial decision against inviting him to participate.

Constitutional rights are apparently important only when they do not hurt the political interests of Dennis Kucinich. What a clown.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Naughty Word is "Disorderly Conduct"?

Sounds like another abuse of police powers to me:

"A man who wrote a vulgar message on the memo line of a check he used to pay a $5 parking ticket has apologized in writing, leading police to drop a disorderly conduct charge against him. Clerks were offended by the message, and the disorderly conduct charge was filed because the comment was obscene, police Chief James Donnelly said.

"He was contrite enough to offer an apology, and I think that satisfies the people who were insulted by it," he said.

The lawyer for David Binner, 45, said his client would have prevailed if he went through a trial. "The F-word isn't what it used to be," attorney Keith Williams said. It doesn't have a sexual connotation anymore and so can't be considered obscene, he said.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Canadian Publisher Persecuted for Mindcrime

There are 3 videos here of an interrogation conducted by the Canadian Human Rights Commission. They are interrogating Ezra Levant, publisher of The Western Standard and the man who published the "Mohammed" cartoons in Canada.

"They said inquisitions couldn't happen in North American. Certainly not in the 21st century. But they have. Whether or not Ezra Levant is declared "innocent" or "guilty" by the Canadian Human Rights Commission of publishing the "Mohammed Cartoons" is beside the point. What is at issue is whether or not a Canadian government agency has the competence to punish someone for what in saner times would be considered a routine exercise in free speech. It is the legitimacy of the Canadian Human Rights Commission that is on trial here. They themselves are in the dock and they have put themselves there.

"A federal judge has ruled that it's unconstitutional for a school district to allow the distribution of Bibles to grade school students.

For more than three decades, the South Iron School District in Annapolis, Mo., allowed representatives of Gideons International to give away Bibles in fifth-grade classrooms. Eight parents sued two years ago and won a temporary injunction against the handouts.

The district then altered its policy, saying the Gideons and others were still welcome to distribute Bibles or other literature before or after school or during lunch break, but not in classrooms.

But federal Judge Catherine Perry now has ruled both practices unconstitutional, saying their purpose "is the promotion of Christianity" with the school's apparent endorsement.

Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, a religious legal advocacy organization, represented the school district and says he'll appeal.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Cricket: Taunt lost in Translation

We read:

"Harbhajan Singh's racial abuse case took a bizarre twist with claims Andrew Symonds had misinterpreted a derogatory Punjabi phrase which sounded like "monkey". The tourists are now expected to argue at Harbhajan's appeal hearing that he called Symonds a "Maa Ki..." in his native tongue, which translates into "motherf.....".

While this defence would land him in hot water for general abuse, it may be enough to clear the pugnacious Indian of the more serious charge of racial vilification when his hearing before New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen is conducted on an as-yet-undecided date.

In Canada, it would have been the government cracking down on the critic:

"Four local citizens Friday protested a column written by a Caldwell legislator that implied gays are immoral, calling it "hate speech." A Boise lawmaker has also criticized the opinion piece written by Rep. Curtis Bowers, a Republican, and published in the Idaho Press-Tribune Wednesday.

In Bowers' piece he describes a meeting of communists in Berkeley, Calif., in 1992 that proposed destroying the United States' families, morals and culture by promoting "the homosexual movement" and feminism. He also wrote that the communist agenda would try to destroy U.S. businesses by promoting environmentalism....

Rep. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, Idaho's first and only openly gay lawmaker, expressed disappointment with Bowers' column. She said she told the Caldwell representative that she was "sorry that he felt that way" and that she would be willing to talk further about the issue with him. "I'm really sorry to see that he has those attitudes towards gay people," LeFavour said.

There is no doubt that American Communists DID favor sexual libertinism and the fact that the Communists in Russia cracked down heavily on homosexuality makes it look like a deliberately destructive ploy. As for morality, the Christian view is found in Romans chapter 1.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

British Blogger Pursued by Police for Criticizing Muslim Drug Pushers

We read:

"Islamist rule over the UK may, alarmingly, be on its way. Today, the British police want to question and/or arrest the British blogger known as Lionheart. His crime? Turning his life around as a young school dropout and petty drug dealer and emerging as a believing Christian who opposes the drug plague in his hometown of Luton and who views the Pakistani Islamist and al-Qaeda control of the drug trade in Luton as both criminally and politically dangerous. For this, Lionheart has been charged with “stirring up racial hatred”—which is a crime in the UK.

He writes about the massive number of Pakistani Muslim drug dealers in his hometown of Luton who addict British youth and whose profits fuel expensive lifestyles, paramilitary organizations, suicide terrorism, and religious hate speech against Jews, Christians, and the West. Ironically, what is said in mosques and madrassas and on protest marches all over the UK is never considered to constitute a “racially” motivated hate crime. As George Orwell understood, not all pigs are equal.

Paul-the-Lionhearted began a blog. He described what had happened to him and what he saw happening on the streets of his hometown. Someone unknown decided that Paul’s denunciation of Al-Qaeda and terrorism constituted “hate speech.” Perhaps Paul’s Christianity offended both Muslims and the politically correct oligarchy that rules the media, the universities, and perhaps the House of Lords in Britain.

"In early November, while walking to the store, I spied a sticker on a pole. The sticker decried immigration and urged the reader to support the preservation of the white race. Contact information for a Neo-Nazi organization was included. I was angry and heartsick that someone would spread this kind of hate in my community. I tore the sticker off the pole and threw it away.

But now, each time I walk in my neighborhood, I see more of these stickers. Little snatches of neon paper that ask for the support of the white man over all others, warn against the crimes immigrants commit, or advise that one can avoid contracting AIDS by not having sex with black men. Each new sticker I find meets the fate of the first one. It's an odd dance; as soon as I find and destroy one sticker, another takes its place.

The hatred and fear these simple pieces of paper rouse in me have been filling my days with anxiety.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Even Bill Clinton is not Allowed to Criticize a Black

We read:

"On Tuesday's The Situation Room, CNN's liberal political analyst Donna Brazile, formerly an advisor to both Bill Clinton and Al Gore, hinted that she was racially offended by some of the former President's recent attacks on Barack Obama.

Invoking Clinton's labeling of Obama as a "kid," and his accusation that some of Obama's claims are a "fairy tale," Brazile expressed that, "as an African-American," she found Clinton's comments "depressing." Brazile: "For him to go after Obama using 'fairy tale,' calling him a 'kid,' as he did last week, it's an insult. And I tell you, as an African-American, I find his words and his tone to be very depressing."

Foolish woman relaxes the guard that you must always have up these days:

"Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods' agent at IMG said he didn't think there was any ill intent.

But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn't know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. "There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this," Golf Channel said in a statement.

Faldo and Tilghman were discussing young players who could challenge the world's No. 1 player toward the end of Friday's broadcast at Kapalua when Faldo suggested that "to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while." "Lynch him in a back alley," Tilghman replied.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Battle of the Lists

A common Leftist tactic that they use to intimidate people in organizations or groups that they disapprove of is to publish lists of names, addresses and contact details of the members of the group concerned. See here for details of just one example of that. Sometimes there is a suggestion that "direct action" be taken against the people on the list.

But it is not at all OK for anybody else to do the same, apparently. We see here a homosexual activist complaining about a list of homosexual activists posted on an anti-homosexual site. We later hear that the critics of homosexuality are "Nazis".

The amusing thing, however is that the list put up by the "Nazis" originated from a list kept and published by a homosexual organization! I wonder if they are Nazis too?

Clearly, however, list publishing is supposed to be a privilege for Leftists only.

"Atlanta Falcon's owner Arthur Blank was a guest on Monday Night Football December 10. He was asked about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback and convicted animal abuser Michael Vick's future with the team. This is what he said:

"There's a lot of roadblocks to Michael coming back and even playing in the National Football League, Tony. Let's assume he's out for three seasons, 07, 08 and 09. If he doesn't watch himself and eats a lot of fried chicken and fries in prison, comes out 215 pounds he's not going to be the same athlete he was."

I have no doubt that many blacks do like fried chicken. I like it myself. And KFC sell it to millions of people of all races worldwide every day. So, if blacks do have a special liking for it, they are at most being accused of liking something that is generally popular. Is that a slur? Why should it not be mentioned?

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

"When the Seattle Housing Authority found a swastika, Confederate flag and pornography on its residents' doors, the low-income housing provider banned all door postings. Goodbye Christmas wreath. No more pastoral watercolors. Even the "Do Not Disturb" sign had to go.

That ban, the state Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 ruling Thursday, violated the tenants' right to free speech. Even if they live in public housing, their doors belong to them. "A government ban on all residential signs constitutes a violation of the First Amendment," Justice Charles Johnson wrote in the majority ruling.

Tom Tierney, the Housing Authority's executive director, called it a philosophical issue among residents. "It's a matter of whose rights ought to be paramount," he said. "Is it the right of the neighbor who's got to get past this other person's free speech? Or is it the right of the person who wants to put up whatever he wants on his door?" ....

The Housing Authority is considering changing the lease to specify that the doors belongs to the agency, a move resident Rick Harrison says he would fight. Harrison, a member of the Resident Action Council who lives in Cedarvale House near Northgate, said, "We could understand the logic of having a rule like not having racist hate messages or obscene messages, but a complete ban was ridiculous."

A senior property manager for the Housing Authority, Bruce Garberding, said he saw the swastika, a Confederate flag and "Soldier of Fortune"-style images on a tenant's door, and has come across nude photos on other doors that he considers demeaning to women.

If we tolerate billboards by the side of roads we drive along, we should be able to put up with messages on doors that we walk past. But the Left are encouraging the formation of a new namby-pamby generation who cannot handle anything that they don't like.

"The nation's largest defense contractor has settled a racial harassment lawsuit in Hawaii for $2.5 million, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Wednesday. ....

Daniels was an avionics electrician at Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station and claimed he was subjected to "persistent verbal abuse," including racial taunts and references to lynching, slavery and the Ku Klux Klan by his fellow crew workers and immediate supervisor while working at job sites in Hawaii, Florida and Washington state, the EEOC said.

After complaining about the harassment to supervisors, the trouble escalated and Daniels said he received multiple death threats, despite Lockheed Martin's policy against racial discrimination.

Lockheed Martin said: "The EEOC's characterization of the facts is false and we regret that the EEOC, for whatever reason, has chosen to distort the factual record in this matter. We chose to settle the allegations from six and seven years ago to enable all parties to move on.

"The conduct in question involved a small number of first-line employees in a small, single operating unit of the company. When management became aware of the allegations, it conducted investigations and took the appropriate remedial actions based on the facts presented at that time.

The company obviously thinks that the black guy was exaggerating but you must not directly question the word of a racism accuser, of course. What he says is gospel. The normal rules of evidence do not apply. So the shakedown succeeds. When a government agency sues you, it is almost always cheaper to settle rather than bear the huge legal costs of a battle through the courts. And with damages awards on that scale, there are going to be a lot more allegations of forbidden language.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Japan Plays the Race Card!

Apparently it is "racist" to oppose whaling!

"A Japanese pro-whaling video condemning Australia as a racist nation using images of the infamous Cronulla riots has been launched on YouTube. The 10-minute video, with English and Japanese subtitles, accuses Australia of white supremacy, exclusionist nationalism, a racist ideology and of prejudice towards the Japanese.

It shows graphic images of slain dingoes, a wallaby being killed by a child bashing it against a ute, and one horrific scene in which an Australian-looking man takes a baby kangaroo from its mother's pouch and stomps on it in the dirt.

It also reproduces famous photographs of angry, young men lashing out violently during the Cronulla riots..... "Australians must not use whales to justify the racist ideology," the video says.

"Australians have to eliminate prejudice and racism against the Japanese. Don't forget Cronulla race riots! These riots show the xenophobia and white supremacy. The next victims are the Japanese?"

"India have suspended their tour of Australia while they appeal against the suspension of spin bowler Harbhajan Singh for racial abuse.

Singh was banned for three Tests after he was alleged to have called Andrew Symonds - the only non-white player in the Australian team - a "monkey".

And the Indian cricket board (BCCI) have responded by halting the tour with two matches of the four Test series still to play. A statement from the BCCI said: "The board will appeal to the International Cricket Council to review the decision of the match referee and suspend its operation till the appeal is disposed of."

Nobody knows the exact conversation that was the basis of the uproar but the black guy came up to the Indian while the Indian was at the crease (i.e. about to bat) and started to abuse him. So the Indian probably said something like: "Get lost, monkey". That is a grave sin in politically correct circles but the Indians obviously regard it as a reasonable comment in the circumstances and one not deserving significant punishment.

I have had Indians tell me with evident passion that cricket is their religion so continuation of the ban on the Indian player will be very badly received in India and will certainly lead to animosity against Australia -- so I do hope that commonsense trumps political correctness eventually. New Zealanders still bear a grudge against Australia over a cricket incident (just say "underarm bowling" to any Kiwi and you will see) so arousing Indian hostility as well would be most unfortunate.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Federal Court Upholds Texas Moment of Silence Law

We read:

"Texas schoolchildren will continue to pray or meditate during a daily minute of silence after a federal court threw out a challenge to the state law. The ruling issued Thursday stems from a complaint by a North Texas couple who say one of their children was told by an elementary school teacher to keep quiet because the minute is a "time for prayer."

The 2003 law allows children to "reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities" for one minute at the beginning of each school day.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn upheld the constitutionality of the law, concluding that "the primary effect of the statute is to institute a moment of silence, not to advance or inhibit religion."

Lisa Graybill, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said even though Lynn found the language of the law neutral on religion, "we know that that intent (to put prayer back in school) is manifest in school districts across the state. We receive those kinds of complaints on a constant basis."

"A toy chain has been ordered to discontinue an advertisement that encourages young children to engage in torture, electrocution and force-feeding. The Toys'R'Us print commercial for Mattel's Hot Wheels Maniacs was banned after a flood of complaints from disgusted parents who described it as "sadistic" and "emotionally damaging".

Comprising a toy car manned by a digital driver who "begs, pleads and asks for more pain", it was one of the top-selling Christmas gifts for boys aged five to nine last month. But consumers argued the selling points of the $49.99 toy inappropriately promoted violence and sadistic bullying tactics to young children.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Is "Donkey" the New N-word?

It sounds like it is in this report from Britain:

"An officer at Lindholme immigration removal centre near Doncaster has been sacked over allegations of racism. He regularly referred to North African detainees as "donkeys" and made animal sounds, a report by the Home Office's Border & Immigration Agency says.

"India spinner Harbhajan Singh faces being banned for the remainder of the Test series against Australia after being reported for racially abusing Andrew Symonds at the SCG.

In a sensational development that has completely overshadowed a brilliant century from Sachin Tendulkar on the third day of the second Test in Sydney, Harbhajan allegedly revived the terrible crowd abuse Symonds suffered during the recent one-day tour of India.

During the tour Symonds, the only black player in the Australia side, was abused with monkey chants.

Nobody will say what the wicked words were but the Indian denies that it was racist. India is scoring well (a cricket match can last several days) and the Indian media think this accusation is just sour grapes on the part of the Australians.

Sikhs are a proud people with a distinguished warrior tradition and Harbhajan does often make disdainful remarks about the Australian cricketers generally -- but insulting whites is OK, of course.

Update:

Harbhajan is alleged to have called the black a "monkey". But the black guy abused him first.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Racist to Describe Official Racism

Britain has a lot of jails specifically for illegals who have been ordered out of the country -- waiting while their deportation can be arranged. Many of the illegals are black and there have of course been allegations that the jailers are "racist".

An official inquiry into the racism has just made its report and there do seem to have been some instances of incorrect language. Calling inmates "animals" is clearly naughty, for instance. Though it would be OK to call difficult white criminals that, of course. But several instances of plain realism are also racist, apparently. Such as:

"A member of staff at Yarl's Wood told auditors that white detainees were treated with more discipline, but the presence of black people caused "paralysis and a softer approach".

That political correctness causes the authorities to have lower standards for blacks ("the soft bigotry of low expectations") is common throughout the world today but you are not supposed to mention it, apparently.

(Sikhs are an Indian ethnic minority best known for wearing turbans. They are however monotheists and have been fighting Islam for hundreds of years)

We read:

"Homophobic remarks attributed to Sikh leader Balwant Singh Gill in The Vancouver Sun have unleashed a firestorm within the queer community, spotlighting divisions between those who say homophobia is the primary issue and others more focused on what they consider the racist response to Gill's comments.

The article, which refers to Gill as "the spokesperson for 39 Sikh temples in BC" examines the question of whether new immigrants are "changing the face of what's considered right and wrong" in Canada....

Popat feels that not only homophobia but racism has been a major factor shaping both the fiery debate in the wake of Gill's comments and the Sun story in which they appeared. Popat questions the framing of the Sun story. Among the concerns raised in the article is whether immigrants are "the main reason British Columbians are losing their reputation as morally easy-going and freedom-loving." The story also states that foreign-born residents are "much more inclined than longtime residents to be strict moralists."

Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe won't discuss Popat's concerns with Xtra West but says he would be happy to discuss them with Popat directly. LaPointe says the Sun was doing its public duty and acting in its readers' interests by publishing the story. "We thought it was of public interest when someone expresses things to have the public understand that."

So a newspaper reports (undoubtedly correctly) that Sikhs generally dislike homosexuality and it gets called racist for doing so!

And the Sikh guy gets attacked for having a perfectly normal opinion within his community! You are not allowed to dislike homosexuality in authoritarian Canada, apparently. As in the old Soviet Russia, you can think certain things but you are not allowed to say them.

But the Sikh guy is unlikely to get hauled before one of Canada's kangaroo courts. He is brown, you see.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Bible-Reading Woman Kicked Off Fort Worth Bus

That a woman reading the Bible to her children would be noisy stretches credulity. Extremely noisy schoolkids are routinely permitted on most buses that I know of. It seems obvious that WHAT she was reading was the "problem":

"A Fort Worth woman wants an apology from the city's mass transit system because of how she was treated Saturday while on her way to church. Christine Lutz claimed she was kicked off The T for reading the Bible aloud to her children. Lutz said she was sitting in the back of the bus, but wasn't being disruptive. She claimed she was stunned when the bus driver interrupted her reading....

Lutz said the next thing she knew, the bus had pulled over and she was being escorted into a supervisor's van, which then took her and her family to church.

Officials at The T said the incident had nothing to do with what Lutz was reading, just the fact that she was simply making too much noise.

"Barbara Walters likes to receive Christmas greetings from high-profile celebrities and leaders, but apparently not if they refer to the Bible. On Thursday's episode of ABC's The View, Walters expressed dismay that President and Mrs. Bush would send out greetings containing Scripture.

During the segment, Walters showed the other gals some of the "highfalutin Christmas cards," and explained the White House card: "First of all, let me show you the cover of the White House, which is nice and bland.So that's pleasant enough. This is what interested me, that it is a religious Christmas card. Usually in the past when I have received a Christmas card, it's been 'happy holiday's' and so on- And this says:

"'You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You gave life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.'

"That's from Nehemiah in the Old Testament. I don't remember- and I'm sure people will remind me-getting a religious card. Now does this also go to agnostics and atheists and Muslims and -"

Thursday, January 03, 2008

British credit-card chief forced to quit after making Shi'ite joke

We read:

"A director of Barclaycard has left the company in disgrace after making a joke deemed offensive to Muslims. Marc Howells, 42, who earned 200,000 pounds a year, was addressing senior executives about the credit card company's quarterly figures when he tried to make them laugh with the quip. Mr Howells said: "The results were like Muslims - some were good, some were Shi'ite."

Some outraged colleagues forced embarrassed laughs while others were stunned into silence, but Mr Howells seemed unaware of causing any offence. His pun was later reported to senior management, however, and after some discussion he left the company last month before any disciplinary process could begin.

"In response to our story today, local FBI chief John V. Gillies provided a briefing this afternoon on the inquiry into the stuffed toy monkey found hanging inside a city firehouse earlier this month.

Gillies, who chose his words carefully, said there was no racial motivation behind the incident, and that it had nothing to do with other events in the department - an allusion to the tension surrounding the ouster of former Fire Chief Sherman George.

Gillies said the monkey was recovered at a fire scene, and placed in different locations inside Engine House No. 13, in the city's Hamilton Heights neighborhood. The last firefighter to touch it apparently found the doll hanging by its waist from a strap on a coat rack. He removed it from the rack, thinking it might have belonged to someone. When he realized the doll had no specific owner, he put the monkey back - this time, for "mere convenience," hanging it by the neck from a Velcro strap.

A few days later, the next shift of firefighters came on duty - which included several African-Americans - and saw the monkey in its new position. Controversy soon followed.

Gillies said the firefighter who draped the monkey by its neck is "very remorseful" for the uproar it caused. There was "no racial bias whatsoever" attached to the incident, Gillies said, and no "noose" either. The monkey "was hung," Gilles said. "But it wasn't hanging."

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

British prison bosses ban sexist jokes in jail

"It's enough to make that old lag Norman Stanley Fletcher choke on his porridge ... prisoners have been banned from sharing "sexist" jokes.

Jail bosses say such quips could give the impression that women are "overly talkative" and "nagging." There is even a danger it could turn convicts to a life of crime, they say - since some lawbreaking stems from men having a "negative" view of the opposite sex.

The reaction of the country's 81,000 prison inmates remains to be seen as they digest a list of jokes which are now officially off-limits. It means that Fletch, played by Ronnie Barker in the classic television comedy Porridge, would certainly have been in trouble.

"In unusually cheering news from the strange little world of ethnic apologizing, the Tolai tribesmen of Papua New Guinea have expressed formal regret for having killed, cooked, and eaten four missionaries back in 1878. The missionaries were Fijian Methodists under the direction of the indefatigable Rev. George Brown of the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

Led by the governor-general of Papua New Guinea (himself a Tolai), thousands of villagers gathered to offer their apologies to Britain's Fijian High Commissioner (i.e., ambassador), and to listen to eulogies of Reverend Brown. At press time, the issue of reparations had not yet been raised.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

"A student of color at St. Cloud State University (SCSU) said she was spat on and shown a "Nazi salute" by white males as she walked across campus Friday night, school officials said.

The incident prompted school officials to issue a crime alert and came as police ramped up efforts to find who is behind a string of hate crimes reported on the campus in recent weeks.

According to the alert, three white males spat on the student as she walked north across a bridge at University Drive around 7:15 p.m. About five minutes later, the student encountered two other white males in an area between the Performing Arts Center and the Atwood Memorial Center. One of the males presented a raised arm salute that the victim reported as a "Nazi salute," the crime alert said.

In both cases, the victim and the suspects kept walking in opposite directions and no further contact was made. The victim was unable to give authorities a description of the suspects, other than they were white males.

"News that gifts for needy children at the Community and Family Resource Center were stolen days before Christmas was shocking and upsetting.

Arrested in connection in the CFRC theft were three siblings, ranging in age from 10 to 12 years of age. Their cases were held in family court, where names are not part of the public record because of the ages of the suspects. We did not publish their names, nor any other description, other than their ages and that they are related.

So those who advocated a return to slavery were assuming that the suspects are black. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But their race is irrelevant. People of all races commit crimes.

Who does he think he is kidding? If the thieves had been white he would have announced it immediately with a great cry of triumph. In the USA, nine out of ten crimes are committed by blacks and people are aware of that. Even if people don't read any statistics, the black/white gap in criminality is so large that it just can't be covered up. The media do often omit racial descriptions but is there really anyone who does not know on such occasions that the omitted word is "black"?

In the case above the thieves had recently arrived from a major center of black population (Chicago), were already clients of the welfare center and had a mother whom the authoriities thought was neglecting her chilren. And the 12 year old already had a criminal record of 7 offences. Obviously Mormons! Or that's apparently what our idiotic self-appointed media censors want us to think.

The one sure result of these media coverup policies is that they reduce people's trust in the media -- and that is DEFINITELY a good thing.

Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Mohammad

The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said

"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."

Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"

One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson

"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn

Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.

The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.

Why conservatives should not respond to Leftist abuse: "Never wrestle with a pig, because you'll both just get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it

A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.

Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.

Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human

Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?

If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862

Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?

The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand

Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."

"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica

Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here